Process of agglomerating pulverulent iron ores.



UNITED s'rn'p s PATENT enrich.

WILHELM SOHUMACHER, OF OBERDOLLENDORF, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR'TO ERNST THALMANN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF AGGLOMERATING PULVERULEN'I IRON ORES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1907.

Application filed September 16, 1904. Serial No. 224,717.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILHELM SCHUMACHER. a chemist, and a subject of the King of Prussia, residing at Oberdollendorf, in the Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, have invented a certain new and useful Process for Agglomerating Pulverulent Iron Ores, of which the following is a specification.

The'finely pulverized iron ores such for instance as are obtained by the magnetic separating process, also dust from blast furnaces, pyrites, detritus, and the like,

present diiiiculties in the smelting processes because n the one hand they are liable to be carried away as dust with the blast furnace gases, and on the other hand they fill out or clog the interstices in the charges of ore necessary for the passage of the gases. It lies therefore for some time past been endeavored to discover means for converting these pulverulent ores into an agglomerated form, such as into 'briquets; such endeavors have however hitherto been without practical results. The proposed methods were either too expensive or the briquets were liable to deterioration in the atmosphere, or they crumbled away at a comparatively low temperature in the blast furnace, or too great a proportion of the binding material was used for obtaining the necessary cohesion of the briquet,

and the ore was rendered too impure thereby. The said disadvantages are obviated by the use, as the binding medium for the pulverulent ores, of-colloidal calcium silicate, which withstands in a high degree the action of the atmosphere, and is moire than sufficiently heat resisting.

In consequen'ce of the considerable binding power of colloidal calcium silicate, only a small addition thereof is required for effectually agglomerating the ore, and consequently any rendering impure of the ore thereby, if the admixture of silica can be considred as such, is very slight.

Colloidal calcium silicate has been employed in the manufacture of artificial stone, in particular of lime sandstone; the chemical process on which this manufacture is based also indicates the method in which the calcium silicate can be obtained in the most suitable and least'expensive manner for use as binding material for the agglomeration of the ore into briquets.

It has also already becirattempted to employ calcium.

silicate produced bythe action'of steam pressure upon hydrate of lime and sand for the agglomerating of iron zl'ftfi, but no practical result has been obtained thereby, and this was not to be expected when it is conseparated from the lime by the greater mass of the ore, and consequently is not capable of reacting therewith.

Instead of ordinary sand or other silicious material in the natural stateas used heretofore, I employ, according to my present invention, jsand, quartz, ilint,. or other efiicient form oi silica or silicic acid, ground to an impalpable powder (so as to be of a fineness similar to that of Portland cement). While it is well known that solid bodies react with each other, or with liquid bodies, the better the more finely they are divided, I have discovered that by employing finely ground, or, in other words, decrystallized silicious material, I secure far better results than could be expected from the well known phenomenon above referred to. As a matter of fact, I have found that sand ground to a certain fineness or mesh, according to 'my invention,-

will yield much more efficient results than sand which has the same degree of fineness by nature. The reason I for this difference of behavior is that theparticles of sand and other silicious material as they occur in na-.

pieces of irregular shape, each of which presents a much greater surface for a given volume than a particle of the same fineness in the natural (approximately globular) 'state. Now, the thoroughness of a reaction depends not only on the size of the particles,

but to a much higher degree upon their shape, or, as it may be put, upon the relation of surface to volume.

By the use of very finely ground silicious material,

pressure the mixture is converted to a very great extent into silicate of lime.

or silicic acid are applicable, and the purer they are, the more perfect will be thebinding action. This is particularly the case asregards the purity of the lime. A small percentage -of ,alumina in the quartz or the lime appreciably diminishes the binding power; the unusually high degree of binding power of pure colloidalcalcium silicate with'iron ore, (which binding power, for instance, greatly exceeds that of Portland cement relatively to sand) may possibly be explained by the assumption that when in contactw iron oxide in the hardening chamber such calcium irate forms abody similar in character to Portland cement, but differing from it by the substitution of iron oxid for alumina. 4 v

l The improved-process is carried out as follows. Very finely. ground quartz or flint (the finer and purer the better) is mixed with pure finely ground oxid of lime or hydrate oi lime preferably in equal parts. The proportions can, of course, be varied, but as limestone has almost always to be added to the charges of the blast furnace, the percentage of lime in the mixture should always be abundant. With this compound is then mixed together with the addition of the necessary amount of moisture, the dust or powder to be agglom- 10 erated, an admixture oi about 5 per cent of the quartz-- lime compound being generally sulficient. The percentage of the addition is of course dependent upon the chemical and physical natureof the ore powder. The briquets formed of the said compound are hardened by subjecting them to'the action ofsteam under pressure in a closed vessel.

p In some cases, for example when the ore to beagglomerated is very finely subdivided, it may be advisable to convert the quartz-lime mixture partially into I colloidal calcium silicate before the admixture to the .ing' the same. irrespective of its silica content, with silica I ground to an impulpnhle powder and lime. with the addi tion of water, forming the mixture into hriquets. and subjecting the briquets to the action of steam. under .pressurc. substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in,

the presence of two subscribing witnesses. U

I WILHELM SCHUMACHERL- Witnesses WoLm-iiuim liAuP'r, \VILLlAM MAYNnu. 

